Plants have found a home on walls for centuries, but are sometimes incongruous with architecture, often breaking down the structural integrity of a building’s facade. Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Garden System, known as Le Mur Vegetal in French, allows both plants and buildings to live in harmony with one another. The botanist cum vertical landscape designer is probably best know for his gorgeous living wall on the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris (shown above). But Blanc’s Vertical Garden System can be implemented anywhere: indoors or out and in any climatic environment.

The three-part system consists of a PVC layer, felt, and metal frame, providing a soil-free self-supporting system light enough to be hung on the wall, and even suspended in the air, weighing in at less than 30 kilograms per square meter.

The Vertical Garden can be used as an impressive outdoor system, or can be used indoors, with the help of artificial lighting. The natural benefits of the Vertical Garden are many: improved air quality, lower energy consumption, providing a natural shield between weather and inhabitants. No matter where you live, urban or suburban, cold or hot, indoors or out, the Vertical Garden brings a little bit of green to all.

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[…] Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Gardens – Musée du quai Branly … – Have any of you tried a patio wall or good neighbor fence version of a vertical garden? A stand alone wall structure has to be properly engineered and their are …… […]

[…] Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Gardens – Musée du quai Branly … – Have any of you tried a patio wall or good neighbor fence version of a vertical garden? A stand alone wall structure has to be properly engineered and their are …… […]

Nothing really beats a living wall. Maintaining the walls are one thing to take into consideration before constructing one. But i think the overall appeal of these walls is only going to grow as the world becomes more environmentally conscious. I’d like to see http://www.greenorigindesigns.com/ design something like this.

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MackMillionsMarch 19, 2012 at 11:36 pm

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evoneFebruary 12, 2012 at 8:22 am

I am looking for an answer that I cannot find this question… Is it possible to grow a vertical garden indoors with only artificial lightening and if so, what kind of lighting would be the best and least expensive?

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Just now read the thread. Awesome work.

lazyreaderJanuary 31, 2011 at 7:48 am

Fifth picture. The building on the right is obviously better looking. The plants were added to the building on the left because they knew it had an ugly facade. One described the materials and plants were peeling away, just the cost of the aesthetic seems pricey enough.

[...] wave, protecting the interior and creating a micro climate in the urban space. In the summer, the living wall helps ventilate and keep the spa cool, while in the winter the green mass helps insulate the space. [...]

I admit they look stunning. The idea of greening walls is so exciting! However, I’m concerned about the eco-friendliness of collecting plant species from endangered tropical areas of the world and then introducing them into ours. It reminds me of people needing to fly food across the globe for the sake of eating fruits out of season. An indigenous version of a vertical garden, now that would be exciting! Is it possible?

geokserNovember 23, 2009 at 10:27 pm

I have doen a simpler version of green wall with drip irrigation and prefabricated support system.

The ivy covered walls of colleges and prep schools are a precursor to this and has been pointed out with roots in the ground needs no artificial irrigation. Also gregarious sparrows nest in the ivy.
PCB

imaginationApril 18, 2009 at 1:45 pm

Anyone who can help with technical details on vertical walls will have my enduring gratitude. I have a client with a small town garden who is interested in the idea but who has no idea of the costs. Nor do I. Can anyone help, please?

bigfella79March 7, 2009 at 12:00 pm

Could anyone advise what are the real installation costs including labour for these walls.. I have a client who I am trying to sell the idea to, but would like to have reliable experienced informat. Has anyone seen the living wall in Docklands.[Leamouth]…it looks better from a distance than close to, but perhaps it is still early days technologically.

jonMay 8, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Patrick Blanc is obviously some kind of genius. There are a few things that interest me about his exterior walls. The first thing from an engineering angle is if the wall weighs 30 kilos per sq.m. when erected, then as soon as the felt absorbs water it\’s going to become somewhat heavier – likewise as the plants grow. I calculate that one of his walls covering 2750 sq.ft. would weigh just under 10 metric tonnes. That seems quite a weight to hang on a fairly small area of wall – but maybe not. The other thing is how does he make sure that plants with differing nutrirional needs get what they require? Presumably he uses a general hydroponic solution that satisfies both the flowering plants as well as the nitrogen greedy leafy ones. The whole thing is great. Maybe this could be adapted to grow strawberries, for instance, up some of our hideous metal clad warehouses/shopping malls.

[...] of culture, location, program and client that have resulted in some of the world’s most unforgettable structures. In recognition of his abundant career and persistent imagination, he has been chosen as the 2008 [...]

Have any of you tried a patio wall or good neighbor fence version of a vertical garden? A stand alone wall structure has to be properly engineered and their are issues with building and planning codes. Talking the neighbors into such a project without trouble shooting every detail is an obvious non-starter too. In my case, I’m trying to work out how to grow organic vertical vegetables on such a wall which I presume will create more weight and require more water. Of course, the water will have to be filtered to remove the flouride (which is in our public water supply) before it can be used on the vegetables. The next things would be to find an alternative to the lining because I understand there are problems with toxins in PVCs and then, to find a sturdy fence/wall material that will not create landfil problems or require harvesting more trees. I know there are some intersting products made from hemp now…any ideas?

Derek D'AndreaFebruary 4, 2008 at 11:24 pm

The amount of run off on the building drops dramatically which helps to keep the clogging of the street filtration down greatly. Also a large amount of water on the building is soaked up by the plants. The vertical garden is a healthy way of giving a normal building green qualities at the same time as giving the building a very aesthetically pleasing sight. THe plant wall, if used in doors, helps to clean and filter the inside air of the building which may help in getting the building a LEED certification.

[...] PATRICK BLANC’S VERTICAL GARDENS November 14th, 2007 Vertical Wall on Jean Nouvel’s Musée du quai Branly . Plants have found a home on walls for centuries, but are sometimes incongruous with architecture, often breaking down the structural integrity of a building’s facade. Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Garden System, known as Le Mur Vegetal in French, allows both plants and buildings to live in harmony with one another. The botanist cum vertical landscape designer is probably best know for his gorgeous living wall on the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris (shown above). But Blanc’s Vertical Garden System can be implemented anywhere: indoors or out and in any climatic environment. The three-part system consists of a PVC layer, felt, and metal frame, providing a soil-free self-supporting system light enough to be hung on the wall, and even suspended in the air, weighing in at less than 30 kilograms per square meter.The Vertical Garden can be used as an impressive outdoor system, or can be used indoors, with the help of artificial lighting. The natural benefits of the Vertical Garden are many: improved air quality, lower energy consumption, providing a natural shield between weather and inhabitants. No matter where you live, urban or suburban, cold or hot, indoors or out, the Vertical Garden brings a little bit of green to all. . Credit goes to http://www.inhabitat.com [...]

Warren BuchananNovember 14, 2007 at 4:32 am

Does any one know if this kind of garden would use much water? Obviously, there would be some losses through evaporation in the early stages of the gardens’ existence as the fabric would be exposed to sunlight. But after the foliage had fully grown over and was dense enough, would this still be the case? Also assuming problems like water excaping from the reticualtion system had been addessed would the garden still use much water?

Just a question as to wether or not Nick Sampson has actually looked into the running costs and environmental benifits of a wall like this. We have been studying Green Walls at university and had a lecture from Graeme Hopkins. He spent many months travelling the world looking closing into green walls and wether they could have an application here in Australia. He actually ran through all the benifits of a green wall or green roofing systems, and although the cost of setting up a system like the one seen here is currently very expensive, the benifits of a wall like this as appossed to a concrete wall are huge. Most pumps to run green walls both here in Australia and in asian countries like Japan where green walls and roofs are taking off are run off solar power panels hidden on the rooftops, and as for water consumption, it’s very minimal. The water is recycled, either from grey water from the building or recycled through the collection bay at the bottom. The plants on the wall actually work as a filtration system also and can be used to clean grey water the same way a wetlands system is used. The building insulating properties are increased dramatically and wildlife is encouraged to enter back into the city. They have also found ways of using green walls infront of air ducts for air-conditioners and have found that building don’t need as bigger air con as the egrn wall purifies and cools the air before its used in the air conditioning reducing green house gases and lowering running costs.

Please check out Pactick Blancs homepage as he’s living works of art are amazing, i think the benifits and visual improvement to cityscapes are definately worth looking into. I think the world will be seeing alot more green roofs and walls popping up.

MAINTENANCE-
Someone asked about maintenance. I saw on TV that they have guys on the things they used to clean windows on office buildings. they go up a couple of times a year to prune,tidy and presumably, fix any gaps.

NUTRIENTS
the system is basically hydroponic in that there is no soil, so the water can’t be just runoff or greywater, it needs also to contain the exact balance of nutrients and micro nutrients that are needed by the particular plants chosen, just like a hydroponic system. it gets captured (mostly) at the bottom and recycled back up though as others have said, I’m sure solar/wind could be used to power the pumps for that to offset energy use.

PLANTS
Unlike ivy, the system does not go directly onto the wall of the building. by providing nutrient rich water the plant roots don’t need to seek out food, hence they stay in place and don’t try to attach to the facade of the the building behind the supports. I personally do like Ivy but a lot of folks are freaked by it clinging to the surface and wouldn’t want that. Also, with Ivy you would have a kind of mono culture and all places would look similar. With this system you get plants appropriate to each situation so all places will be different, and that means more diversity for insects – and more colour and variety for us to enjoy (remember, many of these things flower).

DIY?
I’m wondering if a smaller scale version could be made at home but rather than drip feeding with pump assistance, you could use capillary action and have the wall suck up it’s nutrient rich water from a covered container below (covered to prevent rain diluting it too much).
Clearly this wouldn’t work on huge commercial buildings (unless they had regular staging of the containers?) but for domestic use maybe it’s worth trying? I know I’m going to try. If anyone has experimented with anything similar I’d love to know how it went (callycreates.blogspot.com)

JustinMay 24, 2007 at 10:10 pm

As people have pointed out, there is more to green than energy. It may also be, however, that this wall is energy efficient. How? Because it provides an extra level of insulation. The plants, and the frame that holds them, create an area of relatively “dead” air between the wall and the outside world. This space has the effect of increasing the ability of the wall to act as an effective insulator. Less energy lost through the wall (cool outwards in the summer, warm outwards in the winter) and voila, the costs to heat/cool the building drop. I don’t know if that is greater or less than the energy it takes to pump the water to the top, but you get the idea.

Sylvie LG PollardApril 11, 2007 at 7:23 am

Some living roofs/walls use grey water from its own building to irrigate the plants which in turn through their roots clean the water which is then redirected back to the building & used for toilet flushing. The same is true from any rain water thats collected. They reduce heating and air conditioning costs & a cider making factory in Frankfurt has savings of $6,000 per year on its water bill alone. Solar powered pumps can easily run this system.

Superb! Nature is fantastic in its self, but this combination, I find, is superb! Keep up the good work!

PeterFebruary 16, 2007 at 8:03 pm

Bitch, bitch, bitch…. Have you noticed that people who live in the world’s great cities are always putting them down for one reason or another? Rome, NY, Paris, Amsterdam– they all suck, according to their residents. (I am no exception– I think San Fracisco is a truly third-rate, self-important piece of urban excrement.) The Musee Quai Branly is a great piece of work, just does not fit into some people’s theories of what architecture should be/do. Yes, the exhibit commentary can be a bit off the wall in its theoretical tangents, but the collection is superb, and the study collections are truly amazing. My only complaint is that it is a bit week in Meso-American holdings. As for the green wall, it is BEAUTIFUL and it does NOT leak all over the sidewalk. Maybe Nick should go back and reconsider?

BrendanFebruary 12, 2007 at 4:07 pm

There is far more to sustainability than energy expenditure, which is something too many architects and engineers seem to be forgetting. Is the wal expensive? Certainly. Does it require continual energy output? Sure, though you could certainly stick a solar panel or small wind turbine on the roof to power the pumps.
however, what so much of the sustainability movement fails to address is the reconnection with the natural world that the vertical gardens provide the opportunity for. There is a reason that people PREFER the natural landscape to the concrete one… the concrete, steel, brick environments are artificial and cold. The vertical garden, applies the organic ina way that incorporates it into the built environment, making it more habitable.

mikael johdetFebruary 4, 2007 at 12:44 pm

Beautiful!
Best I’ve seen for many years! Do we have any installations in Sweden yet?
Mikael J.

After having recently seen the Branly Museum in Paris, I totally agree with what Nick Simpson says on January 16. The vertical garden is a mere whim, expensive and not “green” at all – rather the opposite. I will not go into further criticizing Nouvel’s architecture. For those interested, I recommend the excellent article by Francoise Choay: “Branly: un nouveau Luna Park etait-il necessaire?” published in Urbanisme no. 350, septembre-octobre 2006.

bruceJanuary 29, 2007 at 4:02 am

I do love this wall. It’s an idea I’d day-dreamed about, and now I find somebody’s done it!

I’d like to comment on the water/energy consumption critcism: I think a beautiful wall might be made using succulent plants, which, I believe, use a lot less water – they flower too.

Nick SimpsonJanuary 24, 2007 at 11:03 pm

My pleasure! Enjoy it as I say and make sure you have a wander around the Quai Branly museum’s gardens too if you can… Whilst you’re in the area take the metro along to Parc (de la?) Citroen – brilliant modern landscape that blows the Quai Branly stuff out of the water, you’ll love it! Wander around the area with the glass boxes on plinthes within the heavily planted bit, just to the east of the hot air balloon (assuming it’s there all year round). And if the weather’s hot enough go for a run through the fountains!

Ivanadesign, yup, it’s just near the Eiffel Tower – head east (I think) along the Seine and you’ll see it, it faces the river although it’s set back behind the main road that runs along the river. Just look on your map for Quai Branly – it’s to the right of the new museum (set up on stilts behind a huge glass wall) as you have your back to the river.

And I agree Joe, green roofs are a whole other proposition to this, as is ivy. Don’t get me wrong, it is impressive and definitely worth seeing. But the amount of energy used, along with the water (a lot of which ends up all over the pavement) does mean that this is built for the beauty and interest it creates so well, not for the sake of sustainability.

There is an old saying in horticultural circles : “Right Plant, Right Place”
Combine the right plant into this substrate and you could potentially have a cost and energy efficient design … and it can be beautiful.

Instead of plants that require heavy amounts of water, why not use epiphytes instead.
Many of the most spectacular looking epiphytes grow on dry rocky shear cliffs with little water .

As this present design is engineered, I do not see how it is more energy efficient than the alternative, a blank liveless masonry wall.
But it sure is aesthetically pleasing to look at.
… though a well crafted masonry wall is a thing of beauty .

AsarumcJanuary 22, 2007 at 12:21 pm

The system does have constant drip irrigation, but the water is recycled back up the wall. I’ve seen it twic and thought it was beautiful. You can see a little of the the felt material through the plantig, but mostly where inquisitive viewers seem to have pulled the plants away to see what’s holding them up.

surely there must be a way of integrating such beautiful creations with more manageable processes as used in low maintenance green roofs. Obviously some environments are better than others [tropical as oppose to a cold climate] but in reality it gets down to a series or adaptations also. A lot of water and energy goes to waste in building services and surely the benefit of such great lush walls would become a great asset to any cityscape…
there is a great potential to integrate such ideas and the technology of facades… for me its something of great beauty but also perhaps a step in a green direction….

this project it’s amazing!!!i love it. i’m going to paris, so where can i find the vertical garden?i would like to see it! in the picture it seems to be so close to the tour eiffel. isn’t it? Can you help me? thank you

travisJanuary 18, 2007 at 9:14 pm

you could use greywater from the building. or cisterned stormwater runoff from the roof.

I wondered about the total installed footprint as well. It makes me wonder how something like this would compare to an ivy (or similar) that roots at the bottom and naturally climbs. What are the costs and benefits of both? Drawbacks?

Living roof’s are a bit different from the walls, the roofs use the naturally occurring rainfall to water the plants (which, over time, naturally select themselves to those that are best suited for the climate — and microclimate). No additional watering is necessary.

Firstly, it has water (probably with some nutrient mix within it) pumped through it constantly, which drips out of it all over the pavement, showing you just how much of it is being used. The energy and water consumption must be horrendous – if nothing else, how can this be energy efficient when a normal wall needs NO additional energy?

Secondly, it’s not that nice up close – some of the felt and planting is peeling away and it looks a little tatty.

I’ll admit it’s a great idea and very impressive, but the only thing green about this wall is the chlorophyll in the plants. If you want a beautiful garden, jus to the left of this is the brand new Quay Branly museum by Jean Nouvel. The gardens beneath it are good and will be quite impressive for a smallish (for an area of landscaping) urban site. Although don’t bother going into the museum itself – it’s a huge waste of money, as people are increasingly pointing out, plus the political/social ideas behind the museum itself are a little suspect…